Immigrants threatened with arms by police in Athens

Undercover policemen with firearms, first threaten an immigrant and nearby group of students

Undercover policemen with firearms, first threaten an immigrant and nearby group of students, then prosecute the immigrant under made-up charges.

The Law School of Athens (Nomiki) is suffering all this time a "criminal siege" by gangs of police thugs and undercover cops. The most recent incident:In the evening of Monday, April 30nth, a Senegalese immigrant was sitting quietly outside the entrance of the Law School, on Massalia pedestrian street, waiting for a friend of his. He is not selling any merchandise, he has his legal papers on him. He is thus, pefrectly "legal".

Suddently, a dozen of plain clothes police thugs come and start to brutally beat him: kicks, punches, on the head, the hands, the feet. The thugs' beatings and the man's screams came alarmed of a few students from the school, who approached to help him. What followed is the immigrant's nightmare. One of the police thugs draws his firearm and points it to the immigrant's face.

Once he sees the students approaching, he turns it towards them as well. On the sight of the gun, the students move back and the immigrant is taken as a prey of the vultures. He is driven to the police station and there they press charges on him for two felonies and one misdemeanor:

- Robbery attempt: to cover up for their armed threat against civilians lives, the cops come up with a fictitious story of the immigrant trying to steal the gun...

- Unprovoked and dangerous physical injury...

- Resistance against a person (police officer) who went into serious personal riskand what's a record:- Accusing the immigrant of covering his facial characteristics, so all charges go under all aggravating provisions of the "hoodie-law".

[translator's note: The hoodie-law or "koukoulonomos" (after "koukouloforoi", the "hooded rioters") is a law voted by the Greek parliament on 2009, aggravating all crimes penetraded by persons "covering or altering their facial characteristics". Its initial purpose was to counter the rise of anarchist and militant demonstrations, in fact it came a few weeks after December 2008. It is since then exclusively used against people arrested in demonstrations to turn ridiculous misdemeanors where the accused would be released on bail or on parole, into felonies coming with long-term prison charges).

On May 3rd at 11:30, the immigrant were to face a state prosecutor who will decide whether he will be subjected to pre-trial imprisonment.

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Saturday police in Greece batoned and tear gassed protesters outside one of the migrant detention camps now being run by Syriza. Militant protests both inside and outside the camp resumed last weekend after the suicide of a Pakistani migrant, Nadim Mohammed who had been held for 18 months, released and then returned to the Amygdaleza camp. The news of the suicide broke on February 14th along with the news that another migrant had killed themselves in Thessaloniki police station.

Pagani is an infamous immigrant detention centre in Mytilini, Lesbos Island, in Greece. Its sub-human conditions became known through pictures and videos circulated on-line. At the moment we write this, the detained immigrants there are revolting and have set the areas around the detention centre on fire.

Racism is definitely not a "new fruit" in Greek society and not a unique phenomenon to this country. I have witnessed it with my own eyes as it manifested throughout the years I was living there so I can share with you a little knowledge of how it ripens.

In Greece being different is not a good thing, as you will suffer a lot if you are a minority! Your life will be a living hell, if you are a woman or find yourself in a minority like being a lesbian, gay, gypsy, Pakistani, Albanian, Egyptian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Nigerian... In other words it will take a lot of effort to escape being discriminated against and that's without mentioning the people that are prepared to stand up for all these people, the likes of socialists, autonomists, anarchists, people that volunteer in NGO's or anyone that cherishes humanism/altruism. For people to fit in, in a land the locals like to call Hellas (and of the sun) to survive within it is to stay silent and live life in a comatose state.

Libertarian Syndicalist Union (ESE Athens) supports and joins in solidarity movements for the Syrian refugees (victims of war) which live in Greece. Apart from their fair request for direct provision of asylum and travel documents, these people have huge needs in terms of accommodation, food, health care, etc. Hundreds of Syrian refugees reside in hotels (as a stopgap solution), not in good conditions , being under the responsibility of the Greek government and Athens' mayor. We can also report that food supplies for the above refugees are οbtained from charities and solidarity movements.

The mass murder of infants and women by the Greek state outside the island Farmakonisi is not an individual incident and absolutely not a tragedy, since ignorance is required for a tragedy to happen. It is one more result of the conscious murderous policy of Greece concerning the borders. Favored and motivated by the European Union policy of “Fortress Europe”, Dublin II Treaty, the formation of FRONTEX, Greece has installed a murderous mechanism in land and sea, whose stated target is in the best case the torture and in the worst the death of immigrants travelling towards Europe.

Critical moments for the 300 migrants hunger strikers in Athens and Thessaloniki on their 38th day of hunger strike. 100 of them are already hospitalized while the government waits for the first deaths. Tomorrow a demonstration is called by people in solidarity in Athens while many solidarity actions, state building occupations, TV and radio stations interventions and demonstrations are taking place nationwide.

I want to be treated as a human being – like the Greeks. When we will get papers, I will not anymore be afraid of police and I can work legally with an insurance. But most of the time I think now: what will happen if the government does not give an answer? (Arqal, hunger striker in Athens)